Mother's milk is recommended for all infants for various reasons. It has been especially widely reported that breast fed infants do have a different growth pattern than infants fed with infant formula. Indeed, breast fed infants have a lower weight gain and a lower body fat mass within the first year of life as compared to infants fed with infant formula. Additionally, breast fed infants have a different gut microbiota profile as compared to infant fed with infant formula. Altogether, these factors affect the development of the infant physiology, including metabolism, immunity and overall growth.
It has also been reported that feeding patterns of infants and young children—such as the frequency and the amount of ingested food that may depend on their satiety responsiveness—vary depending on the type of milk consumed but also on the mode of milk delivery. A previous study has reported that from the 6th week of life onwards, formula fed infants had significantly higher feeding volumes than breastfed ones (Sievers et al, “Feeding patterns in breast-fed and formula-fed infants”, 2002). Another study has shown that children who were breastfed during the first year show increased satiety responsiveness during the second year compared to those who were formula fed (A Brown et al, “Breastfeeding during the first year promotes satiety responsiveness in children aged 18-24 months”, 2012). These studies suggest that breast milk might contain some factors inducing satiety. In addition infants who are bottle-fed in early infancy are more likely to empty the bottle or cup in late infancy than those who are fed directly at the breast (Li et al, “Do Infants Fed From Bottles Lack Self-regulation of Milk Intake Compared With Directly Breastfed Infants?”, 2010).
However, in some cases breastfeeding is inadequate or unsuccessful for medical reasons or the mother chooses not to breast feed. Infant formula have been developed for these situations. Fortifiers have also been developed to enrich mother's milk or infant formula with specific ingredients.
Short Chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are especially produced by microbial fermentation of dietary fibres in the colon. Propionate is a SCFA that has been shown to be involved in the regulation of food intake and to enhance satiety (Arora et al., “Propionate. Anti-obesity and satiety enhancing factor?”, 2011; Lin et al., “Butyrate and Propionate Protect against Diet-Induced Obesity and Regulate Gut Hormones via Free Fatty Acid Receptor 3-Independent Mechanisms”, 2012; Chambers et al, “Effects of targeted delivery of propionate to the human colon on appetite regulation, body weight maintenance and adiposity in overweight adults”, 2014; Canfora et al, “Short-chain fatty acids in control of body weight and insulin sensitivity”, Nat Rev. Endocrinol. 11, 577-591, 2015).
Increasing colonic propionate is therefore an attractive target for appetite modulation and weight management. However, orally administered SCFA are unpalatable and are rapidly absorbed in the small intestine. Specific delivery systems targeting the release of propionate in the proximal colon have therefore been developed for some studies. In Chambers et al, “Effects of targeted delivery of propionate to the human colon on appetite regulation, body weight maintenance and adiposity in overweight adults”, 2014, scientists have developed a particular carrier molecule whereby propionate is chemically bound by an ester bond to inulin, a natural polymer composed mainly of fructose. This inulin-propionate ester was chemically synthesised. The majority of propionate chemically bound to inulin should only be released when the inulin polymer is fermented by the colonic microbiota, thus providing targeted colonic delivery. However such a kind of carrier present some drawbacks, for example this type of chemically synthetized substances may face regulatory issues if used in compositions designed to infants or young children. This study was indeed designed to adults. Some more “natural” solutions, e.g. with ingredients found in breast milk, would therefore be preferred for an administration to infants or young children.
Alternative solutions more appropriate to infants and young children should therefore be developed.
Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are, collectively, the third largest solid constituents in human milk, after lactose and fat. HMOs usually consist of lactose at the reducing end with a carbohydrate core that often contains a fucose or a sialic acid at the non-reducing end. There are over one hundred milk oligosaccharides that have been isolated and characterized in human milk.
Some compositions using HMO ingredients, such as fucosylated oligosaccharides, lacto-N-tetraose, lacto-N-neotetraose and/or sialylated oligosaccharides, have been described for different health purposes, mainly immune purposes.
However the use of HMOs to control food intake in an infant or a young child has not been explored yet. There was also a limited focus on the use of HMOs to promote a healthy growth, e.g. a rate of growth of the infant that is closer to the one obtained for breast-fed infants.
There is clearly a need for developing suitable methods for such health benefits in infants and young children.
There is also a need to deliver such health benefits in a manner that is particularly suitable for the young subjects (infants and young children), in a manner that does not involve a classical pharmaceutical intervention as these infants or young children are particularly fragile.
There is a need to deliver such health benefits in these infants or young children in a manner that does not induce side effects and/or in a manner that is easy to deliver, and well accepted by the parents or health care practitioners.
There is also a need to deliver such benefits in a manner that does keep the cost of such delivery reasonable and affordable by most.